Ashlyn Rae Willson (born April 24, 1993), better known as Ashe, is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her 2019 single "Moral of the Story", which was featured in the Netflix film To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020) and was produced by Noah Conrad with additional production from Finneas O'Connell. Ashe also co-wrote Demi Lovato's 2017 single "You Don't Do It for Me Anymore" and has toured with Louis the Child, Lauv and Whethan. She was nominated for a Juno Award for her gold-certified single "Let You Get Away" with Shaun Frank. Her debut studio album Ashlyn was released on May 7, 2021. Her second album, Rae, was released on October 15, 2022.
Early life
Ashlyn Rae Willson was born on April 24, 1993, in San Jose, California. She began attending piano and vocal lessons at the age of 8. Ashe says that she grew up listening only to Christian radio and that she thanks her grandfather for introducing her to music from names like Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Jefferson Airplane. She attended Berklee College of Music and graduated with a major in contemporary writing and production in 2015.
Career
2015–2017: Early career
Ashe started out by singing demos in Nashville before catching the attention of Swedish deep house producer Ben Phipps, who asked her to sing on his track "Sleep Alone" in 2015. Over the next two years, Ashe specialized in appearing on a number of dance and house tracks from names like Louis the Child and Whethan. Her 2016 single "Can't Hide" with Whethan was her fifth No. 2 on both the US and Global Spotify Viral 50 charts. Her 2017 single "Let You Get Away" with Canadian DJ Shaun Frank was nominated for Dance Recording of the Year at the 2017 Juno Awards and was certified gold in Canada in 2019. Ashe assisted Demi Lovato in composing their 2017 single "You Don't Do It For Me Any More" from their US platinum-certified album Tell Me You Love Me (2017). Between October 2017 and January 2018, Ashe embarked on tours with Louis the Child, Lauv, and Whethan. After signing to Mom + Pop independent label, she released her debut single "Used to It" in June 2017 and "Girl Who Cried Wolf" in November 2017. "Used to It" was her second single to reach No. 1 on the Global Spotify Viral 50 chart. Ashe was placed alongside Billie Eilish and Lewis Capaldi on Vevo's list of Artists to Watch in 2018. Throughout April 2017, Ashe supported The Chainsmokers during their Memories Do Not Open Tour and performed onstage with Big Gigantic during Coachella Festival 2017.
2018–2020: The Rabbit Hole EP & Moral of the Story
By the time Ashe had released her debut EP, The Rabbit Hole, in June 2018, she had clocked over 200 million accumulative streams and nine No. 1 songs on Hype Machine. The EP was described as "a versatile and compelling seven-track affair." Ashe supported Quinn XCII on his From Michigan with Love World Tour, during which she also released her single "Moral of the Story".
On April 5, 2019, Ashe released the four-track EP, Moral of the Story: Chapter 1, which Finneas O'Connell entirely produced. O'Connell also produced three of the four tracks on her sequel EP, Moral of the Story: Chapter 2.
In February 2020, the single "Moral of the Story" was used in the Netflix teen rom-com To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020), which caused the song to reach number 2 on both Global and US Spotify Viral 50 chart. Ashe made her debut chart appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Moral of the Story" and the Billboard 200 with Moral of the Story: Chapter 1. Ashe also released a duet of "Moral of the Story" featuring Niall Horan. As of June 2020, the single has been used in over 901,400 videos on the online platform TikTok. As of September 2022, her collaboration with Niall Horan has reached over 160 million streams on Spotify.
2021: Ashlyn
In March 2021, Ashe released another song with O'Connell titled "Till Forever Falls Apart". Her debut album Ashlyn was released on May 7, 2021, including the songs "I'm Fine" and "When I'm Older" issued prior to the album, along with "Me Without You", released on May 5. Ashlyn debuted at number 194 on the Billboard 200 dated May 22, 2021.
2022–present: Rae
On March 3, 2022, Ashe released the single "Another Man's Jeans" after releasing snippets of the song on social media. Ashe released another single, "Hope You're Not Happy" on May 6, 2022.
Three months after her song, "Hope You're Not Happy" released. She returned to her "home", which is the Bay Area in San Francisco as was set to perform exclusively at Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival on the 6th of August.